TFU | Mar. 11-17

The SEC announced it will hold a public forum on DLT and digital assets; IBM is working with CULedger on a digital identity blockchain system and signed a deal with the French commercial court; PayPal now offers instantaneous money transfers to U.S. banks; the Basel Committee has warned banks about their exposure to crypto; the U.K. FCA is considering eliminating investment platform exit fees; and micro-investing startup Stash raised $65 million in new funding and rolled out new banking services in partnership with Green Dot Bank.

In the News

SEC to host forum on DLT and digital assets. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a public forum on distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets. The event will be the second hosted by the agency, in connection with its “FinHub” initiative, and will include panelists from industry and academia. The forum will be held on May 31 at the SEC’s Washington D.C. headquarters.

…and scores nationwide blockchain deal in France. IBM also completed a deal with France’s commercial courts to implement a Hyperledger-based system that court clerks will use to record changes in companies’ legal status and “share regulatory information about the difficulties companies experience.”

Stash raises $65M, rolls out mobile banking offering. The micro-investment app raised $65 million in Series E funding and announced that users can now open mobile-based bank accounts from Green Dot Bank. In addition, Stash users can now participate in a new rewards program, which gives value back on purchases in the form of fractional shares in the companies they spend with.